Why so few posts.

To be perfectly honest as to why I have not been posting to this blog, the computers here are painfully SLOW. SLOW, SLOW. In addition, finding an internet cafe open before 11:00 AM is impossible. Finding a chair available when it is open is a stroke of good luck. And this was quite surprising to me: the power to the city is off almost as much as it is on. This fact makes it very difficult for businesses to operate. Many businesses have generators. Many do not. Businesses dependent on computers have banks of batteries to keep them going. But batteries don't guarantee their ability to get on the internet because the power outages affect their servers' connections and voltage fluctuations wreak havoc on the computers themselves. But somehow everyone seems to be able to take things in stride and they make do. This attitude, along with the tolerance people have for each other, make India a unique and exciting place indeed. India is a country about 1/3 the size of the United States with a population of more than 30 times that of the US. That is a lot of human beings living very close together. From a western perspective, this fact has resulted in many adaptations in daily life that are very different from ours. More on these adaptations later.

Be HIV POSITIVE

Ashwin took this picture of me at work on Friday August 29, 2008 on the roof of Deep Griha. The tee shirt I am wearing is my "uniform". The tee shirt is part of WAKE UP PUNE's "HIV POSITIVE" project. It is designed to shock people into thinking about HIV. The goals of the project are:

• Be Positive about Education - educating ourselves and others about HIV and AIDS

• Be Positive about Awareness - raising awareness in our wider community

• Be Positive about Support – reaching out to people living with and affected by

HIV and AIDS

You can check out the website and get your own tee shirt at http://www.wakeuppune.org/site/index.php/hiv-positive-campaign

Upload of first batch of pictures

I just uploaded my first batch of pictures. You can check them out at http://picasaweb.google.com/sacramentodan/IndiaAugSep08
I will work on the descriptions more later. The internet cafe I am using is getting ready to close.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Well I made it. It is Thursday Night about 8:00PM. The flights were pretty gruesome. They definitely cannot cram any more people on them. I'm sure they've realized that by now. Even first class doesn't appear to be worth what they are charging for it. Seems like it would not take much to have the industry's most successful airline if they made it more comfortable (more room) and/or faster.
Taking Amtrack, connecting shuttle, and BART to SFO was a breeze. It could not have been easier or nicer. SF has changed quite a bit since I was there last (DUH! 15 years what did I expect?) As I have frequently said, "The bad thing about getting old and dying, is not getting a chance to see how everything turns out." But that is what makes experiencing the here and now all that more exciting--seeing things change, evolve, get bigger, better, and progress--I guess.
What a change in overall friendliness however, when I got to the boarding gate for Mumbai in Newark. Mostly Indians of course and very friendly. Seems like everyone wanted to talk to me, find out where I was going, what I was doing, etc. After landing in Mumbai, the driver from DG was waiting for me. His "Welcome -- Deep Griha Society" sign stood out in the crowd. It was about a 4 hour drive to Pune. He stopped at a huge truck stop complex about half way. As he stopped he looked at me and asked "Tea". I said sure and proceeded to follow him past all of these stalls selling some of everything and past all these people, busses and motorcycles. Very bustling. Then we approached a huge public restroom with lots and lots of men walking in an out. I realized then that he had asked me "Pee". We then went into one of the many places selling food there and he
ordered a "Rice Plate". I told him I would have the same as him. A large platter with about 7 bowls of different vegetarian dishes and sauces surrounding 2 pieces of nan and a plate of rice arrived. Each. Much more food than you and I get at The Kebab on Northgate Blvd. YUM. It was only 140 Ru for the two of us. Anyway, got to the volunteer dorm at about 2 AM Wednesday (this) morning. I slept most of the day. The dorm is okay and the food is good. Think about Mother Theresa and you get an idea of the accomodations. I'm not kidding.
At around 5:00, some of the other volunteers arrived home. Two of them, very nice, young, beautiful women from the UK, showed me where to go to exchange money. They also took me to a large market that sells just about everything and showed me where the internet cafe is located. I had a million questions for them about everything but mostly we talked about the work at DG. I am really looking forward to starting work tomorrow.
One of the most glaring incongruencies I've experienced is the traffic situation. Mexico has nothing on India. The infrastructure can hardly be called that. Think of the slough trail with the traffic of I5 at rush hour. There are relatively few cars. Most of the vehicles are large diesel trucks spewing tons of black exhaust, mixed with huge numbers of tri-cycle taxi cabs and motorcycles. It is a huge cacophony of motors reving and horns honking. There are no crosswalks and very very few traffic lights. Crossing the street is VERY SCARY and dangerous.
Well, I'm looking forward to my first day at work tomorrow. If I live that long.
Note: upon reading this, I notice that the days of the week I have referred to seem to conflict. I was and still am confused about the time change.

Leaving next week for Pune, India

I'm creating this blog in preparation for my trip to Pune, India from August 19 to September 20, 2008.